In an effort to adapt the venture capital investment model to literary publishing, the Literary Ventures Fund will announce its first round of financial grants of up to $200,000 to a number of publishers by the end of January. Launched in May (Foreword, May 16), the LVF will provide money that publishers can use to pay a writer or for marketing support—and hopes to recoup a return on its investment after the book is published.
Jim Bildner, president and founder of the Literary Ventures Fund, declined to name the first titles the LVF will back, but said the initial investments in five to seven new titles—fiction and nonfiction—will range from $5,000 to $200,000. "The publishers range from big commercial houses to the smallest presses," said Bildner. He said the LVF has about $250,000 earmarked for investment. LVF funding is provided by a single, anonymous nonprofit foundation. By the end of the first 18-month cycle, Bildner said, he hopes to provide support for a total of 12 to 24 titles.
PW has learned that one of the titles to receive a grant is a first novel called Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife by Sam Savage, the story of a rat living in a bookstore that learns to read. Coffee House Press will publish it in April, and Coffee House founder Allan Kornblum said the house will get $10,000 to provide marketing support for the book. Among promo plans, Kornblum will send 500 gummy rats to booksellers; become involved in Baker & Taylor's ARC program, Consortium's galley program and Amazon's marketing program; and place advertising for the book in trade magazines.
Firmin is just one title in a book portfolio that Bildner hopes will be like a stock portfolio. Bildner said the LVF portfolio will have "investments geared to each project that are driven by need and by literary merit." He said the portfolio would have a range of books—from first novels to scholarly nonfiction—in an effort to make a profit even if specific books don't perform. "We think a portfolio of literary projects will perform like a venture capital fund. All of them won't make money, but we're hopeful for an overall return that will allow us to reinvest the money in more writers," said Bildner.
Bildner said the LVF has met with agents and publishers to solicit titles for support. LVF has received submissions through its board and through M.F.A. writing programs as well. "We're trying to create a new mode of venture philanthropy that will head off donor fatigue, provide a return on our investment and let writers write full time," said Bildner.
